Even though I work in a Library, I haven't really had much chance to actually deal with books of late. It all seems to be computers and DVDs and reader's accounts. And then posters and leaflets and this survey or that survey. I've only just figured this out, wondering why I've had so many negative feelings about it recently. I miss alphabetising entire sections. I miss getting angry at the crappy covers of Ken Follett books. I miss knowing which books are where, and being able to take a reader straight to the title they want. I seem to have lost that communion lately, which makes me sad. I don't get the chance to sneakily read the cover blurbs anymore. I can't properly engage with people when they ask for recommendations. I feel like I work in an office, but at the same time, I feel totally out of my depth in that world of invoices and paperwork. (Although I admit I do have an unhealthy obsession with post-it notes.)
Tomorrow, I'm going to make a point of rekindling my love affair with the shelves. I'm going to pull out Tony Parsons and Murakami and even Josephine Cox. I will stand them up for all to see, and let them dance on the shelves together, urging someone to take them home and into their lives. I'm going to make a standing collage of Mills & Boon lovelies – have the one where the sheik falls for the businesswoman teeter next to the one where the doctor takes on the innocent pregnant gal and her bun, and let the one where the millionaire steals the heart of his secretary-who-he-pays-to-pretend-to-be-his-wife nestle up close against the one where the rocket scientist woos the sexy but workaholic lady vet. (I made that last one up, but it probably does exist.)
I need to get back what I used to love about my job. And that means not getting bogged down with new responsibilities, but finding a way to balance what has to be done with what I want to do. And it starts amongst the pink-covered tales of romance. Where the names of the authors – B.J. Daniels, Candance Camp - never cease to make me smile. What better place to rediscover my true love.
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